Welcome
Well done on your successful application to join the ACE IT programme! We’re excited to have you as part of the upcoming cohort. So that we are able to satisfy our funders and to provide you with a range of valuable support free of charge, we need you to complete a registration form. This is the final step in joining the programme.
By registering onto the ACE IT programme you are committing to a minimum of 12 hours’ support. This is a requirement set by the Funder.
Programme Journey
We endeavour to provide your business with a seamless journey throughout your time receiving support as part of the ACE IT Programme. Depending on your application and your subsequent agreement with the ACE IT team, this may include:
- Introductory meetings and account management with the ACE IT team
- Consultancy with industry and academic experts
- Product development support including user and product testing
In return, we expect our members to engage with the programme as appropriate to your ACE IT agreement and our Terms & Conditions of support.
The ACE IT Project Team will be on hand for account management along the way.
On commencing the project, you will be matched with an ACE IT team either at London South Bank University (LSBU) or London College of Communication, University of the Arts London (UAL). This will be based on which organisation best matched your needs in terms of academics support, facilities and kit.
We commit to a minimum of 12 hours' support to each SME on the cohort, although we expect this to be much higher (approximately 40 - 100 hours). The time spect on the programme will be based on the current stage of your product, and what support we are able to offer your development in the time remaining on the programme.
After scoping your one-to-one development project with you, a work plan will be drawn up to outline exactly what kind of support you will receive, how many hours this is estimated to take, and an approximate timeline for completion.
In return, you must commit to receive a minimum of 12 hours' support through a signed Collaboration Agreement.
At the end of the Cohort, you will be able to share your projects and successes with your peers in an End of Cohort event. Throughout the Cohort, you'll be able to interact and network with your peers through SBI and ACE IT events and workshops. We encourage participants to build peer-to-peer relationships, connect outside of SBI, share learning and continue these practices after the end of the cohort.
Academic Collaboration
The scope of our academic collaboration is tailored to take your product development to the next level. It may include design or development consultancy, technical support, user testing or research projects.
All projects, inline with ACE IT programme outputs, must lead to the creation of a new product, process or service to your business. Additionally, where there is scope to do so, the academic team will seek to write up the project findings as a research (or other) paper to be submitted for publication.
After scoping of your project, you will agree to a Work Plan that documents estimates of all activity due to take place with full details such as timelines, hours and outputs.